1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing system and an authentication information providing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is known a proxy management method and an agent device, by which an agent device provided between a service provider device and a user device manages the information of the user device. In the conventional proxy management method and the agent device, the user's load of managing authentication information has been reduced (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-209611
In recent years, various external services have started to be provided by cloud computing, etc. As external services provided by cloud computing, etc., have become widespread, there have been cases where applications, which operate in an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral, perform processes in cooperation with external services.
In these cases, the user needs to perform a plurality of authentication operations in order to use a plurality of external services. Note that there is known a technique of a single sign on (SSO), which is for reducing the load of authenticating a user. By single sign on, the user does not need to execute another authentication operation after completing the sign on operation, i.e., after being authenticated.
However, there has been a problem in that when an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral and an external service cooperate with each other to perform a process, there has been a need to develop a cooperation function for cooperating with the external service, for each application operating in the image forming apparatus.